A horrified mum slammed a school's "outdated" BMI tests after her four-year-old daughter was told she needed to "lose weight".
Lauren Ormesher, 32, was shocked and furious to receive a letter claiming her "perfectly healthy" four-year-old daughter was "overweight" following a BMI check LancsLive reports.
Lauren, from Birch Green in Skelmersdale, said her daughter, Maggie Heron, who attends Cobbs Brow Primary School, is a "perfectly healthy" child who does dance weekly and has recently won the petite section of the Lancashire category of ‘Miss Diamond UK,’ a national pageant celebrating diversity. She said the results have "knocked confidence" in some children after seeing their test results.
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The letter, sent by Lancashire Healthy Young People and Families’ Service and run by HCRG Care Group, said its school nursing service carries out the National Child Measurement Programme and School Needs Assessments. It informed her the test showed Maggie was 111.3cm tall and weighed 23.5kg on February 1, adding: “These results suggest that your child is overweight for their age, sex and height.”
The mum-of-three has now called on schools to scrap the tests that use height and weight to work out if a child's weight is healthy. She has launched a petition to call for an end to BMI testing in primary school aged children.
Lauren, a fully-trained pharmaceutical dispenser, said: “The letters sent off the back of these inaccurate tests can be detrimental to children’s mental health especially if it’s a child old enough to read and understand or a child of a parent who would put them on a diet because of the letter. I have had lots of people telling me they have had the same experience, and some children have seen the letter and it’s really knocked their confidence.
“It’s so sad. These weight checks are using an outdated method labelling perfectly healthy children. It’s important that people sign if they agree so we can make a change and stop BMI testing for primary school aged children.
“I’d encourage everyone with children to sign the petition. I feel awful for them and it’s been going on for years. My son is 12 and he received one for him when he was in reception saying he was overweight. And again, he wasn’t even slightly overweight, so how it’s carried on this long baffles me.”
Posting on Facebook, she urged other parents to send photos of their healthy children to her, along with the logo #byebyebmi, and encouraged people to sign the petition. She wrote: "As most of you are aware BMI is not an accurate way to check a person’s health as it doesn’t take into account muscle mass or bone density. It’s outdated and needs to change!"
Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Lancashire County Council's director of public health, previously told LancsLive: "The National Child Measurement Programme is part of the Government's plans to improve young people's wellbeing and gather data relating to their health. We commission HCRG to deliver the programme in Lancashire.
"This is one of the services we provide to support the families of 0 to 19-year-olds, which help to ensure young people maintain a healthy weight and have an active start to life. Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of a number of indicators of people's health, but every case is different and we'd encourage any parents with concerns to contact their school nursing teams for help and support."
A spokesperson for HCRG Care Group has also previously said: “The National Childhood Measurement Programme is a national scheme which we deliver in Lancashire on behalf of Lancashire County Council. As part of the programme, we write to parents whose children the programme identifies are either under or overweight for their age, sex and height to access to free support and guidance.
“Whilst we do understand it can be upsetting for parents to hear that their child has been measured and identified as overweight or underweight against the national target range, we hope they appreciate the information is intended to help identify where positive changes can be made and provide the support to make those changes.”
Lancashire County Council was contacted for updated comments. The HCRG Care Group said it stands by its earlier response.
